Field Grade Years- The Journeyman Experience

By BG Ross Coffman

Defining success as a major in a succinct manner is difficult. Leaders typically serve at this rank for seven years and transition from position to position. Each of these positions require different learning objectives and keys to success. The journeyman years of field grade life enable success in battalion command and beyond. They provide depth and breadth to the leader’s skill set. Let’s explore a few learning objectives and measures of success during each phase of your Field Grade Journey:

The Promotion Ceremony

Learning Objectives

It’s not about You- Your Family, Soldiers, and NCOs enabled this promotion

You are being promoted because of your potential not your performance

Keep the speech short and just serve cake and punch

Measures of Success

You thanked your Family

Your peers and Soldiers actually showed up

CGSC/ILE

Learning Objectives

May not be the best personal year of your life

You are there to become an expert on warfighting and the Joint/Army Systems

Leave with an understanding of your tactical weaknesses and a plan to overcome

Measures of Success

Your Family unit is strong

Your professional reputation is intact as a reliable team player

Best shape of your life

Division Staff Officer

Learning Objectives

You need other leaders involved to fix complex problems

Nobody cares about your branch or uniform accoutrements. Divisions need staff officers that can solve complex problem and track them to completion

Writing with clarity and briefing well are a required skill

Measures of Success

You keep getting hard and complex problems to solve

Brigade/Battalion Commanders ask for you to serve in their unit

Your learn how to listen to the question and give a short well informed answer

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2 comments

Great series. Thanks for collecting and posting them; I’ve already shared most of the articles with my field grade and soon-to-be field grade officers. Can you please check the PDF attached to this article? One of my captains let me know that the links don’t work for him. I can’t seem to get them to work, either.
Thanks